Tim Marshall

Diplomatic Editor

The raid on the BP gas plant in Algeria looks as if it is linked to the foreign intervention in Mali.

Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) warned they would take revenge for the intervention in Mali, saying they would bring the war to Paris.

That may yet happen, but in the short term it looks as if they are on the hunt for Westerners wherever they can find them.

A good place to look is the oil and gas industry, especially in Algeria. The five Japanese hostages taken may just be unlucky enough to be foreigners the hostage takers came across along with those they would prize more highly - Europeans and Americans.

The Islamist militant who phoned the news agency AFP claiming responsibility said the group involved was the Khaled Abu al Abbaas Brigade led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar and that the attackers had come from Mali.

BP operates the gas plant with Statoil and Algerian state firm Sonatrach

The claim is plausible. The desert stretching from northern Mali to southern Algeria is a lawless area, AQIM is known to operate there, and Belmokhtar is one of the most senior jihadists in the region.

The varied groups under the AQIM umbrella have for years taken hostages for ransom to fund their activities. It is thought over 50 hostages have been taken in the past few years earning the groups over $250m (£156m).

Belmokhtar is known in the Algerian press as 'The One Eyed' and wears an eye patch after losing an eye fighting in Afghanistan in the early 1990s.

He is thought to be in his late forties, was born in Algeria, but has roamed the Sahara region for years engaging in terrorist acts in several countries.

Intelligence experts believe he was one of the first AQIM leaders to spot the potential of Mali as a state which could not withstand an assault and that Islamist fighters could use the north of Mali, and parts of Algeria, Mauritania and Niger as a safe zone for their operations.

Europeans and Americans in several countries in the Sahel region are potentially at risk and already there are travel warnings issued by foreign ministries.